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Between January 1 and December 31, 2007, EmployAbility’s Recycling Crew sent
464,380 pounds
or 232.19 tons of cardboard, 498,349 pounds or
249.17 tons of newsprint and 223,308 pounds or
111.65 tons of magazines and mixed office paper to
the processing plant.
During
the same time period, EmployAbility’s Recycling Crew
also sent 107,190 pounds or 53.6 tons of plastic,
16,980 pounds or 8.49 tons of glass, 27,171 pounds
or 13.59 tons of aluminum cans to their respective
processing plants. |
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John, with a fresh bale of
cardboard! |
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A row of baled plastic,
ready to be shipped. |
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Baled plastic, up close. |
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is an astounding contribution to the community,
considering that every ton of products recycled is
said to save more than three cubic yards of landfill
space. Every ton of recycled paper products saves
approximately seventeen trees,
approximately 6900
gallons of oil, a little over 4000 kilowatt hours of
electricity and over 500 pounds of air pollution
through avoided decomposition gas emissions and/or
incineration. Plastic does not decompose and is
expected to remain in landfills for hundreds of
years. Plastic’s btu’s are nearly triple that of
ordinary trash, but
burning plastics in a burn barrel in your back yard
causes the formation of dioxin and other harmful
chemicals. However, in a waste-to-energy facility,
the high burn temperatures and pollution control
equipment minimize the emission of harmful
chemicals. |
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Some of the reductions potentially available by
using recycled materials to make things instead of
making them from raw materials are:
Ø
Aluminum
94%
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Plastic (3 grades)
70-80%
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Newsprint
40%
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Glass
40%
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Cardboard
20%
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Susan at the cardboard bin. |
EmployAbility’s Recycling Crew is composed of eight
full-time and
four part-time employees with
disabilities. Five job coaches work with the
employees. Therefore, recycling allows
EmployAbility to provide jobs for seventeen people.
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Cardboard bales
waiting in the warehouse for shipment.
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| Patrick, with
paper fresh out of the baler. |
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Knowing all this, why would you NOT
recycle??
EmployAbility maintains three
rows of green recycling bins in the parking lot at
501 SW Virginia Avenue, located on the west side of
Virginia, between Adams and Frank Phillips
Boulevards.
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Anyone who so desires can
bring their recyclables and drop them in bins marked
for that purpose.
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501 SW Virginia Ave
Bartlesville OK 74003
918-336-6361 ext. 25 |
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